David Wynn Miller

Miller's description of his work and views

Miller lived in Ohio before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin. He describes himself as a "Plenipotentiary-Judge", an ambassador, banker, postmaster, King of Hawaii, and a genius with an IQ of 200.

Miller says that he is the innovator of what he calls the Mathematical Interface for Language or Quantum-Math-Communications and Language or Correct-Language. According to Miller, the language he pioneered could end war. Miller's design involves some sentences that begin with prepositional phrases, using the word For. His sentences have many more nouns than verbs. According to Miller, only nouns have legal authority. The language also has an abundance of punctuation. For example:

FOR THE FORMS OF OUR PUNCTUATIONS ARE WITH THE CLAIM OF THE USE: FULL-COLON=POSITION-LODIO-FACTS, HYPHEN=COMPOUND-FACTS =KNOWN, PERIOD=END-THOUGHT, COMMA-PAUSE, AND LOCATION-TILDES WITH THE MEANINGS AND USES OF THE COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE FULL-COLON OF THE POSITION-LODIAL-FACT-PHRASE WITH THE FACT/KNOWN-TERM OF THE POSITIONAL-LODIO-FACT-PHRASE AND WITH THE VOID OF THE NOM-DE-GUERRE = DEAD-PERSON.

According to Miller, the addition of hyphens and colons identifies a person as a matter of fact, existing in the "now-time-dimension". The names as written in this way are distinguished from the names listed at birth and in "all-caps" (as on a birth certificate), which identify the legal estate and not the living being in fact. In fact, signing up to get a "birth certificate" creates a taxable Person (Corporation) (e.g., DAVID WYNN MILLER as opposed to :David-Wynn: Miller.).”

Description by Miller's critics

The Los Angeles Times has characterized Miller's political views as "far-right". The Anti-Defamation League described Miller in an article on the Redemption movement: "This Milwaukee, Wisconsin-based sovereign citizen is one of the most unusual of the 'common law gurus' who travel the country holding seminars and offering legal advice. Miller has created his own unique version of English grammar, one that even many sovereign citizens find hard to understand or accept." An article published by the Southern Poverty Law Center in 2003 referred to Miller as a "Professional Conspiracist" and stated that Miller claimed that Bill Clinton and the entire Supreme Court of the United States were his students. The Southern Poverty Law Center listed a wide variety of conspiracy theories associated with Miller.

Selected cases

Defendants have attempted to use Miller's language or ideas in courts of the United States and Canada. These attempts have been uniformly unsuccessful.

In 1998 Miller assisted Ingleside, Illinois, resident George Johnson in his legal defense against child molestation charges. Johnson was convicted and returned to prison in 1999.

In June 1998 Prescott, Arizona, resident James McCreary filed a federal lawsuit after being arrested in February for aggravated assault and possession of drug paraphernalia. In his filing, "McCreary mentions the name of his apparent mentor. David Wynn Miller of Ohio is an advocate of the restoration of Constitutional rights through 'correct' language and procedure." McCreary's actions in court got his conviction reduced by the judge to three misdemeanors, and he was sentenced to three concurrent 60-day sentences in jail.

In August 2001, Paul and Myrna Schuck unsuccessfully used Miller's language during a tax-evasion trial in Calgary, Alberta. They were later sentenced to jail after claiming postage affixed to their clothing and signed by them made them legally equivalent to royalty.

In October 2001, Andrew William Sereda, a naturopath, went to jail in Calgary, Alberta, for contempt of court when he addressed a judge in Miller's language during his tax evasion trial.

In September 2002, Miller was profiled when Milwaukee-based accountant Steven Allen Magritz was jailed after engaging in what authorities called "paper terrorism", or filing large numbers of legal claims against perceived enemies, as part of the sovereign citizen anti-government movement. The article calls Miller "the movement's linguist" and outlines his belief that people don't need to pay taxes if they can "prove that money is a verb". Magritz was convicted in 2003 on seven counts of criminal slander of title and sentenced to five years in prison.

In December 2002, Wisconsin juries convicted Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, residents Janice K. Logan and Jason Zellmer (Miller's cousin) of "simulating legal process" by filing documents that purported to be legal documents from the jurisdiction of the "Unity States of the World," a concept originated by Miller. Zellmer had been previously convicted of resisting an officer. Miller testified at the trial. The defendants were found guilty. Miller remarked that the genesis of Truth-language was when he "turned Hawaii into a verb" and showed "how a preposition is needed to certify a noun."

In 2002 and 2003, Ed Dick stood trial in Vernon, British Columbia for unlawfully failing to provide income tax returns for the taxation years 1997 and 1998. Dick succeeded in having the style of cause amended to include his name with a colon, namely, Edward: Dick. Among other tactics, he challenged the jurisdiction of the court. Dick was found guilty.

In 2005, Montclair, New Jersey, resident Brenda Rickard was arrested and charged with orchestrating a $30 million mortgage scam: "Rickard, who claimed her name is :Brenda :Rickard, is a follower of :Judge: David-Wynn: Miller, who gives seminars around the country and advocates speaking in the 'true language,' which features odd punctuation and syntax. 'I have no problem with the complaint against me as long as it’s in the truthful language,' Rickard told the judge." Her lawyer requested a psychological evaluation following Rickard's behavior in court. Rickard and co-defendant Jamila Davis were convicted of conspiracy and six counts of bank fraud in 2008.

In 2006, Hemet, California, physician Jerome Mueller was jailed for tax evasion: "Part of a loose-knit group calling themselves 'freemen' and 'patriots,' Mueller is an adherent of 'truth language.' Developed by self-professed genius David Wynn Miller, of Milwaukee, truth language is based on mathematics and purports to be the only correct way of interpreting English. A major tenet, according to interviews with Miller published on the Internet, is that maritime law is the only worldwide governing authority because the Earth is a vessel in a sea of space. The U.S. government, however, contends in everyday English that Mueller owes income taxes back to 1993."

On 7 July 2008, La Crosse, Wisconsin, dentist Frederick G. Kriemelmeyer complained about his conviction for falsifying federal income tax returns. In the United States Court of Appeals, he asserted that he had not been permitted to use Miller as his counsel during the trial. The magistrate judge had refused to allow Miller to act as counsel because Miller was not licensed as an attorney. The Court of Appeals ruled that the magistrate judge's refusal was correct, and that Kriemelmeyer's argument that he was not subject to the tax laws was frivolous.

In 2008, Wai'anae, Hawaii, resident Rita Makekau was convicted of eight counts of assault and one count of domestic abuse for injuring five children in her care with hammers and knives. In 2009, Makekau challenged her child abuse conviction by claiming her sovereignty group, Hawaiian Kingdom Government, declared her innocent. Miller said he is the group's spokesperson and is a "plenipotentiary judge, ambassador and postmaster". Makekau was ordered to prison in 2009.

In 2010, David Kevin Lindsay asked Mr Justice Frits Verhoeven of the Supreme Court of British Columbia, who was acting as a court of appeal, to quash a conviction resulting from Lindsay's failure to file income tax returns for 1996 and thereafter. Lindsay, who presented himself as David-Kevin: Lindsay, argued that he was not a "person" as defined by Canada's Income Tax Act. He said he had ceased to be a person in 1996. The judge refused to let Lindsay opt out of personhood. The judge said the sentence of a $5000 fine would remain but jail time would be reduced to 30 days from the original 150.

In October 2012, Kosciusko County, Indiana, resident Paul A. Graber was sentenced on two counts of financial institution fraud to eight years in prison. He represented himself at the trial and read from a pre-written statement that repeatedly referenced Miller as "Judge Miller". Miller was called as a witness to the trial.

In March 2015, David Lewis Turner, a resident of Mooresville, NC was convicted in Statesville, NC of embezzlement of nearly $400,000. He was sentenced to a term of 6-8 years for this Class C felony. He represented himself at trial as a sovereign citizen. He had been the first successor trustee of the estate of his mother. The trust directed that each of her 3 children receive an equal 1/3 of the net estate. Rather than distribute equal shares, the defendant kept 2/3 for himself. His defense was that the trust was invalid since it was not written in D. W. Miller’s recommended proper syntax grammar. Turner espoused therefore as trustee he had no obligation to follow the terms of an invalid trust. He did not explain how the alleged invalid trust was valid enough to identify him as first trustee and allow his control of all trust assets. At one point he read a statement in parse-syntax-grammar, then declared himself the only true judge in the courtroom, tried to take control of the court and ordered the bailiffs to stand at attention.

Jared Lee Loughner

Some reports published after the 2011 Tucson shooting included references to purported similarities between the writing of convicted gunman Jared Lee Loughner and Miller's writing method. Miller has stated that although he did not know Loughner, he agreed with Loughner's video postings on government mind control and grammar, but was appalled by Loughner's actions. Miller has stated that the idea that his work could have inspired the mass shooting was "ridiculous", and "I expect he’s been on my website... He’s just repeating things I’ve had up on my site the past 11 years."

Malcolm Roberts

Malcolm Roberts is an Australian Senator for the Pauline Hanson One Nation party who was elected in the 2016 Australian election. In August 2016, a number of media outlets identified documents that had earlier been written by Malcolm Roberts that uses Miller's syntax. These documents included syntax such as "Malcolm-Ieuan: Roberts., the living soul" for himself, and "The Woman, Julia-Eileen: Gillard., acting as The Honourable JULIA EILEEN GILLARD" for the former Prime Minister of Australia Julia Gillard.